The Funniest Thing
by hopeintheproles
Summary: It was the funniest thing, for the longest time I had always pictured myself with Will. It wasn’t exactly funny, but it’s odd at how someone can hold on to an idea for so long.
1. The Funniest Thing

It was the funniest thing, for the longest time I had always pictured myself with Will. It wasn't exactly funny, but it's odd at how someone can hold on to an idea for so long. Like the thought of it was so spot-on that there was no way it could be impossible.

Of course, you never seem to factor in the point that some people have no friction. That maybe the things you need in someone, can't be found in him. Naturally people don't tell you these things, they allow you to stumble around it casually until you hit that nasty hole of reality and can't help but fall.

But you can always get back up. By yourself, or with the help of another.

I had always pictured myself with Will because I was positive he would be the one that would never ever hurt me. When he did for that first time, I should have realized his blunder and turned around to when it could have been stopped. But some things make you oblivious, like a silly little girlhood notion that he's the one you need.

Like I said before, he was safe. He had a soft look, and you just had to admit that he was indeed, such a dork. But he was Will, cute, soft, adorable, heart breaking Will. Who was too much of a sucker for anyone's good.

Don't get me wrong, Will to this day is still my best friend, but some things just need to be admitted. It's unhealthy to live a life in denial.

The relationship started, and it started, and well, yeah, it's the same, and he's the same, and our talks are still the same, his hugs still feel the same, and his kisses are nice, but not any different, and oh shit. I made a mistake.

Fortunately, this was an agreement on both of our parts. I mean, come one, I was 15, he was 14. How much can we know about our true real feelings when these are close to our first real interactions with them. Love is not blind in some sense, it just needs some testing before it can draw any conclusions.

I don't feel stupid for not feeling any different or not feeling anything deeper with him. And it wasn't a mistake, if we hadn't enacted on our confused battling hormones we might have always questioned what was there, and then of course the sexual tension would build, we would collide at the peak in one night of passion only to find the next morning that whoops, there's no chemistry, and BAM! You're wound up in an unwanted pregnancy.

Basically, we were just saving ourselves. And it's for the better.

I walk down the halls of Sky High with a large smile on my face, today is a bright and happy day. My head is cleared of any clouds of confusion that may have gathered during the day. But, my tests are over, the rain has turned to light, and WHAMMO! Enter Good Mood Layla.

I walk into the cafeteria and look around for my friends. I see Warren sitting at his usual spot and walk over.

I sit down across from him and say "Hey!" Making my smile wider for a second before turning my head down to put my bag on the floor and taking out my paper bag lunch.

He grunts, of course, and resumes back to eating.

"Come on Warren, it's lunchtime, school has been on for like 4 hours, can't you just try and give up monosyllable grunting and succumb into being awake." I logic while pulling out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"You don't succumb into being awake Layla." He says my name chidingly, but his smirk gives him away.

"It's like an oxymoron."

I roll my eyes and kick him slightly under the table "Well if you want to get technical."

If anyone else had kicked him, you can surely guess they would have been fried. But I am a triple threat, you could say. 1. A girl 2. His friend 3. The only person he allows near him, let alone touch. I'm slowly working my way up, starting slow with the legs. But just you wait, pretty soon, I'll be graduating to arm frogging.

He scowls and I smile wide, his scowl deepening as my smile enlarges. Pretty soon I can't help it and I burst into laughter, and for once, his smirk turns to a bit of a smile.

"Wait!" I semi-yell.

"Warren Peace has just smiled, damn, the day I don't wear my camera around my neck!"

He resumes back to his usual hobby of scowling and I take a huge bite of my sandwich.

Our other friends soon come to the table and sit down. Will sits next to me, Maj next to Warren. Zach sits next to Maj and Ethan sits beside me.

"What's going on?" Will asks.

"Varrin yust sbiled!" I say enthusiastically, while Will and just about every other person save Warren, burst into laughter. I chew and swallow and shove Will on the shoulder.

"Shuttup!" I yell and laugh at the same time.

"Warren. Just. Smiled." I enunciated as if speaking to a 5 year old.

"No way!" Zach and Ethan proclaim.

"Yeah!" I shout.

"And you know what the best part is-I wasn't threatening him or anything!" I say, referring to when Warren thinks it's "cute" when I try to threaten him, apparently 'hippies' are not very good when it comes to social interrogating.

The group bursts into chatter with one another, while I look to Warren.

"What?" I deadpan.

"You know I will most likely kill you right?" He says, with a very casual and obvious tone.

"Oh yeah, I know."

"Good." He says, and resumes eating.

"Warren, you shouldn't be so bitter." I mock chide.

"Oh, I'm not bitter. My sinister outlook on life doesn't allow me to follow your conventional ways such as laughing and conforming to social groups."

I sigh and place both hands together "Warren, my friend, I'm afraid you have conformed. As much as that scares you and shocks you. We're the social group that is going to help you through your time of need, such as this denial you seem to have inherited."

I pat his hand and he scowls a little once more, the bell rings to let us cattle know that it's time to move on to our branding classes. I stand up and move in front of Warren.

I move one side of his hair behind his ear "Keep your hair out of your eyes. I'll see you later." I give a half wave as I walk with Ethan and Zach to our next class.

He says bye to me and trudges to his own class.

By the time with my class Maj is flagging me down, I move swiftly across the classroom and sit next to her.

We both take out our homework

"Soo…." She starts.

"Yeah?" I ask, rummaging through my bad for my pencil. Damnit, I had it at lunch, where the hell could I have put it, did I lose it, maybe I left it in….

"When did you find out you had a crush on Warren?"

WAIT! Hold the phone. I sit back up strait and look at her

"Huh?" I ask. Confused. Honest, this is real confusion, what the hell is she talking about?

"Don't pull that on me Layla, you know what I'm talking about." She points out, rolling her eyes as if it's the obvious thing in the world. Gee, I wish she would let me in on it.

"Well Magenta." I start, crossing my arms and narrowing my eyes "I'm feeling a little stupid today, would you mind clarifying that for me, seeing as I have no idea in hell what you're talking about."

"Come on Layla, you flirt with him and act like everything he does is your business."

"What are you talking about? He's my friend, he just happens to get along with me."

She sighs and takes out her pen "Layla, did you maybe happen to notice you're the only friend he gets along with."

"Maj, he's got friends this year, ones he actually likes, he just has a hard time admitting it."

"That's not the point Layla." She turns to me and holds one of her arms out "We're his friends, yes I know that, but the two of you together hold some little secret bond or something, he views you differently than he views the rest of us."

When the teacher walks in we stop talking. Probably for the best, I didn't really have a witty dismissive comment for that one.

But you can assume that basically there's one thing that is going over and over in my mind right now.

Shit.

But the thing of it is is that Warren and I are just simply too different be together. He's Warren, the residential misfit, and I'm Layla, the hippie, who is also, kind of, umm, out of place, in this school society.

Shit.

Well, you can pretty much assume that Maj has just screwed me into the ground.

This is so what I didn't need this year.

End Chapter.

A/N: Alrighty, let me know what you thinkee.


	2. A Wandering Eye

A/N: Sorry it's taking me awhile to update but I kind of lost interest, got clueless as to how to continue, and then got interested. Thanks for the great reviews though.

Chapter 2

A Wandering Eye

(Layla)

It's Tuesday. Or otherwise known as the Study Day for our small group. Will, Zach, Ethan, Magenta, and now Warren come over and we just hang out and do homework. Although, now that the group has expanded a bit we all try to do homework and have fun, but mostly we just have fun, eat snacks, drink soda, and socialize. It's our day to put down those barriers of social status that separate us in school. It's a great system because we really get to learn what's new in everyone's life and we all keep in touch.

Will, Warren, and Magenta are here right now. Zach and Ethan had to stay after school for some extra credit project, they should be here soon.

I come back into the living room with extra popcorn and place it on the table. Warren and Will both reach for it before I place it down and Warren's hand brushes mine. I quickly put it down and sit on the couch. Magenta's words are really bothering me.

She elbows me in the side and I elbow her back. I'm not looking at her but I know she's smirking, somewhat triumphantly I presume. I look to Warren. This is hard, I mean before Magenta talked to me, I had really only viewed Warren as a friend. I'm not stupid, I know Warren is attractive but for some reason I could always look past that.

Maybe now I don't want to anymore.

Before I can continue further with that thought, the bell rings and I'm glad that a distraction has presented itself. I answer the door and usher Zach and Ethan in. I sit across from Magenta instead and watch as Ethan sits closely to Magenta. They talk quietly and Magenta's voice is soft and so is her face. So soft I can't even hear what they're talking about.

Magenta and Ethan had been friends way before I had even knew about them, they stuck together and balanced each other out in what they were lacking. You can tell that about them without even knowing each other for too long. Her face is etched in concern and worry for Ethan, who looks a little down. Her emotions really only come to show with Ethan.

I see her blush a little and a light snaps on in my head.

I need to talk to her.

(Magenta)

When Zach and Ethan come in my heart starts to race a little. Ethan sits close to me and I can tell he's down. He's been down all day. I worry about him, he won't tell me what's going on even though we've been friends for close to 5 years.

"Hey." I say quietly, he's sitting next to me. Close, very close. Our knees almost touch.

"Hey." He's solemn. His glasses are gone and his height has grown. He has become cuter as the years have progressed, I think I'm the only one that's noticed though.

"Come on Ethan, I know something's wrong with you, please tell me. I hate to see you down."

It's probably the most concern I show with anybody. But Ethan is special, he isn't like anyone I know. His interest and awe of the superheroes make him a little child-like, but he's smart and intelligent with thoughts of the world that make me wonder. He contradicts everything I know, but makes a point that is always right and respects my decisions anyway.

I think I see Layla looking at me from the couch so I keep my voice hushed and as low as possible. This is between me and Ethan.

"I know" He says. "I'll tell you later. I need to talk to someone anyway, it's just been hard."

His brown eyes reflect the pain he is in. It's easy for me to spot pain, I've been through so much of it. And when I was hurting, he was there for me too. He always is, always will be.

"I'll help. I'll be there." I say. He smiles as what seems genuine and I give a small smile in return. He's infectious. Captivating. He's Ethan and nobody else can make him different. But he makes me different, if only around him at least. And maybe that's special and important. Maybe that's all I should do.

(Layla)

I worry for a second. Magenta and Ethan seemed to be having a heart to heart, it's probably not my business. It's just not so often that I see a softer side to Magenta, but she's become my best friend and I can't help but wonder if there is a softer side to her and if it's only designated for Ethan.

For awhile we all thought that that role and that designation would be for Zach, they had chemistry and he seemed to present a challenge for her. Something Magenta was always looking for. But something in her told her that he heart wasn't set for Zach, he wasn't the one that would change her and make her want to be nicer, better, or just different.

Something tells me that her heart is somehow changing and calling for Ethan. And as much as it intrigues me I can't be the one that buts into her life and demands answers.

Although she certainly decided that she could do that for Warren and myself.

But Magenta and I are different. Two different kinds of cookies, if you will. We're both raisin-bran. The unpopular cookie and the one that's not chosen often or preferred, but we're healthy and sometimes preferred by the odd loner. The only difference is that I'm a soft cookie and she's a hard one. She needs some milk to soften her up.

Well, maybe in this case it might be chocolate milk. (A/N: haha, sorry, I couldn't resist, I hope I don't offend anyone, I don't mean anything bad by it)

I smile a small smile and hope that things turn out the best for Magenta. Two hearts were broken when she didn't feel anything for Zach. Zach took it bad and went into a slump, adorning a bruised heart. But he quickly became nursed back into health when a side-kick named Clarissa, who could create fragrances, came into his life.

Magenta took it bad too though, upset at how a nice boy like Zach was ruined because she couldn't feel anything for him. It was almost like she had set up a barrier that just wouldn't let herself start to like him, she could've if she wanted to. But she's scared, she might not admit it, but I know her well enough to tell that she rules with her head not her heart.

A change might be in need though.

(Will)

"So do you like her man?" I ask, looking around the room, watching Magenta and Ethan on one couch talking lightly, and Zach and Layla on the other talking animatedly.

"What? Who?" Warren asks.

"Layla. Do you like Layla? Cuz you know it doesn't matter to me if you like her or not. We're completely over."

It's true. Layla and I had ended a while ago, both coming to terms that we had just known each other too long and that friendship was the best thing.

"Why would I care? I'm not into the hippie."

He grabbed a handful of popcorn and leaned back into the couch.

"Come on Warren." I say "If you don't like her then why do you treat her differently than you treat Magenta?"

The difference in the way he acted towards them was noticeable, he had a tendency to talk to Magenta about worldly issues, political, educational and book things. He was softer and more emotional with Layla.

"I don't know, how about the fact that they're complete opposites and I can't act the same way towards them."

He's getting irritated now, you can tell he doesn't want these questions. This of course, means that I'm somehow stumbling towards the truth.

"Yeah, that's true. But the excruciating difference in how you are around them is big."

I crack my knuckles on my left hand and wait for his answer. When he doesn't give one I decide to see how far I can take this.

"You've held Layla's books before, opened the door for her. You've hugged her, gone places with her. From what I've heard you guys have had a couple of heart to hearts. You wore a tux for her, went to homecoming. You've also-"

"Damnit Stronghold! Shut up!" His arms catch fire and everyone stops. He cools down and goes into the kitchen.

We all just stare at his retreating figure until Zach says

"Layla, maybe you should follow him."

Layla nods and steps quietly into the kitchen.

Okay, even Zach knows that Warren and Layla have a thing for each other.

How is it that we all knew about this before they did?

End Chapter.

A/N: Alright, as promised I have got this chapter up and running. I've decided that I will put in two parts: Magenta/Ethan and Warren/Layla because I like the pairings. My other story currently out, the two-shot, will take more time because it's longer and I need time to figure out how to do some parts. But other than that I really want to thank my readers for the great reviews, they really do help.


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